Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Repatriation Problem Is Getting Bigger

via ArtNews, 20 January 2023: Story on the Met Museum, with a brief mention of Douglas Latchford.

As the momentum for repatriation grows, so has recognition that institutions have a surfeit of problems when navigating the return process and acknowledging fault. The industry has strict ethics rules for deaccessioning artworks, including a provision requiring museums to preserve all records.

Yet in several cases when artifacts have been repatriated, the Met Museum has deleted posts from their online collection. The speed of these erasures has surprised some ethics experts, who described the disappearing posts as undermining transparency and thwarting community attempts to recoup their cultural heritage. In the Vishnu icon’s case, the webpage was removed even before the physical object left the museum gallery.

“It’s expected that you keep those records because it’s part of the provenance,” said Sally M. Yerkovich, who is leading revisions of the International Council of Museums’ ethics code, a project expected to complete in 2025. “The best practice is to disclose as much info as you have and as much as you feel comfortable sharing.”

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Repatriation Problem Is Getting Bigger – ARTnews.com